The randomness of the Castle
by Doc Lee
Summary: A collection of random plot ideas that float about in my head that don't end up as full stories. Chapters probably won't be connected and content will vary from fluff to angst and back again. Hope you all enjoy. Reviews welcome.
1. Chapter 1

Found it a little tricky writing Castle recently. Had a few different ideas floating about my head, but none seemed end up going anywhere.

So I'm going to try my hand at something a little different. I'm going to write the ideas up and post them all under is title. A collection of random Castle based stories that don't have a home anywhere else. This won't be updated every week, but I'll try and keep this string going with new plots and ideas.

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><p>'Kate! I need...oh God... Kate!' Kate Beckett froze in the middle of the bullpen, her phone clamped to her ear as she fought the urge to panic at the sheer terror in the voice on the other end of the line.<p>

'Alexis? Where are you? What's wrong?'

'It's a disaster!' Alexis Castle wailed, Kate's terror dropping slightly as she realised that the young woman wasn't in any danger, 'They... Kate!'

Hearing the tell tale gasps of a panic attack, Kate pushed open the nearest door and locked it behind her.

'Detective?' Captain Gates looked up from the report she was reading, annoyance and concern in the word. Her jaw dropped when Kate turned away and raised a finger towards the older woman.

'Take deep breaths Alexis,' Kate schooled her voice, keeping her worry behind the calm, soft tone she spoke in, 'Try and focus on my voice and breath. Whatever is wrong is going to be okay. Relax honey, everything's going to be okay.'

'But Kate...' Alexis hiccuped, 'Dad's going to kill me.'

'Honey,' Kate sent an apologetic wince towards her boss, 'There's nothing that you can do to make your father want to kill you, absolutely nothing. Where are you?'

'At... At home,' Alexis whimpered, 'I'm in the loft.'

'Let me talk to the Captain about having the afternoon off,' Kate sighed when Gates waggled her hand towards the door silently, 'and I'll be there in about twenty minutes or so.'

'Okay...' Alexis sniffled.

'I'm sorry Sir,' Kate pocketed the phone, 'I've never heard Alexis like that before and I panicked. I shouldn't have barged in like that.'

'Go, Detective,' Gates pointed to the door, 'Go help that young woman. Take tomorrow off as well and let me know if she is alright.'

'Thank you Sir!' Kate hurried out the office. Throwing a short excuse at Ryan and Esposito, Kate barrelled out of the building, the desire to throw out the gumball so tantalisingly great that Kate had to stop her hand as she reached over to the device.

Throwing the door of the loft open, Kate called out Alexis' name, relief dousing her terror when she received an answering voice.

'What's happened?' Kate dropped to her knees by the couch in Rick's office, the huddled shape of Alexis curled into the corner of the soft couch, 'honey, look at me. Tell me what happened?'

Alexis sniffled, puffy red eyes appearing from behind the curtain of her hair as she opened the laptop that sat before her. Kate frowned at the un-nerving silence and turned to look at the screen.

'Oh,' Kate's shoulders slumped when she read the headline on the low quality tabloid gossip blog that Alexis had open.

'You were in a strip club?' Kate blinked at the image on the screen.

'No,' Alexis winced, 'Yes. We were all out on a night out at a new club Dani had discovered and it started bucketing down. We had to take cover under the nearest shelter.'

'Which happened to be a doorway to a strip club,' Kate sighed, 'And her?'

Alexis let out a deep breath when Kate pointed at the image on the screen of a soaked Alexis grinning widely as a blonde head nuzzled her neck.

'Bec,' Alexis' shoulders slumped, 'That's Bec. She's one of the group. She's very much the type to speak her mind. First time I met her she told me that if I needed any help relieving... Tension, then give her a call as she'd happily help me relieve... Tension.'

Kate felt a giggle bubble up, 'I knew someone like that at Stanford. Ten minutes after meeting her Raq, I mean Raquel, had explicitly offered the use of her tongue if I ever needed a quick orgasm. What made it so bad is that she said it with my Dad standing in earshot a few feet away.

'Oh God!' Alexis gave a watery laugh.

'Yeah,' Kate shrugged, 'It was rather awkward.'

'Bec just decided to have a hug,' Alexis chuckled softly, 'she's a hugging person when drunk and I just happened to be within arms reach. I was laughing because she knows I'm ticklish and she'd blown a raspberry on my neck.'

'So someone caught it on film,' Kate sighed, moving up to sit next to Alexis and wrapping her arm around her, 'And they've twisted it to try and get a few extra hits for their site.'

'I don't care about the bloggers and the idiots,' Alexis leant into Kate, 'This is going to hurt Dad's image. The successful writer's wayward daughter screwing women in strip club doorways. Makes for quite a scandal and he's already had a few groups start issues with him including a gay main character in the last heat book.'

'You aren't going to cause him any trouble Alexis,' Kate pressed her lips into Alexis' hair, 'He's more than capable of doing it himself. This'll blow over before you know it. That Cyrus kid will do something insane and everyone will move onto the new story.'

Alexis twisted into Kate and hugged her tightly. The two women sat on the couch for a while in silence, Kate's fingers stroking along Alexis' back gently.

'It's a damn good photo if I'm honest,' Kate felt and heard the muttered response against her neck, 'I mean, the framing is pretty good, the lighting from the surrounding signage gives you two a bit of a cool glow and you've worn a dress that shows off your killer legs. You should get a copy of this for posterity.'

'Bec has already,' Alexis giggled, 'Said she's going to get a copy framed for me.'

'Kate?' Rick's voice called out from the front door, 'Are you here?'

'We're in the office,' Kate answered.

'Alexis as well?' Rick's clumsy feet thumped around the loft

'I'm here Dad!' Alexis grimaced, dropping her voice and giving Kate a quick kiss on the cheek, 'better get this over with.'

'I've got your back pumpkin,' Neither woman noticed the use of Rick's nickname for his daughter, 'Don't worry about a thing.'

'Ah,' Rick appeared in the doorway, 'Good, you're both here. I had a reporter call me up earlier about you Alexis. Something about a woman and a strip club?'

'It's all a big misunderstanding Dad,' Alexis felt Kate's palm on her back, the quiet reassurance sapping the worry out of her, 'just a trashing blog trying to score more hits.'

'Oh,' Rick visibly relaxed, 'Wanna tell me all about it as I make a tagliatelle?'

'With extra large mushrooms?' Alexis smirked, the redhead scrambling to her feet and making a bees line to the kitchen area.

'She's okay?' Rick bit his lip and gave Kate a long kiss, 'Mother told me I should get back here with some comfort food for her.'

'More concerned about you than herself I think,' Kate melted against her fiancé, 'But she was close to a panic attack when she rang. Gates gave me tomorrow off incase Alexis needed me.'

'Dad!' Alexis teasingly called out, 'You two can do that later, when I'm upstairs with my headphones on!'

'The wondrous leader commands me,' Rick pressed his lips against Kate's forehead, 'Thank you for being there for her. It means more than you can imagine.'

'Dad!' Alexis called, 'Where'd you put the chopping board?'

'In the dishwasher Pumpkin!' Rick answered.

'No it isn't!' Kate could hear the eye roll in the younger woman's voice.

'I should go help her,' Rick dropped his forehead against Kate's.

'Go,' Kate giggled when Alexis let out an annoyed bark, 'Before she decides to poison your food with extra spices again.'

'Oh God,' Rick grimaced and tore away from Kate. Leaning against the doorframe, Kate's face was filled with a warm smile as she watched the father and daughter bicker and banter as they worked in unison, the smell of their creation eventually reaching Kate's nose.

'Seeing as we've done al, the hard work,' Alexis grinned at Kate, 'It's your turn to set the table.'

'Of course it is,' Kate chuckled.


	2. Fluffy wake up

Thank you for all the reviews and the numerous favourites and follows. You guys and girls really don't know how helpful they've been recently.

I would have uploaded this fluff piece sooner, but the site was being a pig and not letting me update for a couple of days.

Forgot to add the disclaimer last time out (oops) - the people that own Castle are the people that own Castle... I am not one of those people.

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><p>The soft sound broke through Kate Castle's fog of sleep, her eyes flickering into the early morning sun. A squeaked yap hit her consciousness again and she grumbled softly.<p>

The feel of something walking on her back brought Kate's face out of her pillow, her forehead creased in confusion, 'Wha...'

'Sleeping beauty awakes,' Rick rumbled softly, his eyes shining at the tangled mess that was Kate's morning hair, 'About time you finally surfaced Kate.' the moving mass on her back stumbled, a small shape dropping onto her bare skin above her camisole.

'What is on my back Rick?' Kate hissed when she felt a tiny wet tongue swipe over her, 'And did it just lick me?'

'It did,' Rick smirked, his hand reaching out of her view, his voice turning into a smiliar sound to the one he'd given to Ryan's new baby daughter a week earlier,'Which is naughty as only I get to lick her.'

'You didn't?' Kate's eyebrows shot into her hair, 'You bought a puppy? We can't look after a puppy! Who's going to take it for walks, or clean up after it?'

'Cosmo is for Alexis,' Rick sighed, 'It's her birthday today, remember?'

'Today's Sunday?' Kate blinked at her husband.

'It is,' Rick rumbled out a laugh, his body jerking as he threw his hands out towards Kate's back, 'Whoa little boy, you can't jump from there.'

Kate felt the weight lift from her back and she rolled over. The moment she saw the puppy in her Husband's hands, she melted, 'Oh my God!'

'Tell me about it,' Rick stroked the small back of the yawning puppy. The tiny animal stretched and yapped, it's attention caught by Kate's fingers scraping the red sheets, 'the litter surged to the front of the pen and he just sat back, watching me. Almost daring me to get him over his brothers and sisters.'

'So you did,' Kate cooed, the puppy nibbling at her fingers.

'So I did,' Rick sighed.

Kate sighed, 'This is evil, you do know that? You bringing this adorable little angel in here and waking me up like this. I'm not going to be changing my mind over this Rick, we can't keep a dog with the hours we work. It'll just be too much pressure and...'

'Alexis doesn't want to move out until next summer,' Rick leant over and kissed Kate's head, 'So we have until then to trial run having a puppy.'

'If you bought your daughter a puppy for her birthday just so you can have a trial run,' Kate glared at Rick, 'Then say goodbye for a month to the green number I wore last week in here for you.'

Rick's face paled, his eyes darkening despite the tinge of horror, 'The one with the straps that...'

'Yup,' Kate nodded.

'Alexis has wanted a puppy for years,' Rick gulped, forcing his body to reverse it's blood flow, 'so no, I didn't get her this little cutie so we could test drive having a puppy...'

'But...'

'I had stopped at the pet store because I wanted some more information about keeping a puppy so I could try and show you we could,' Rick sighed, 'Then I saw him and I knew I had to get him for her.'

'It's a good thing he's so damned cute,' Kate laughed when the ball of gold fur bounced it's way across the bed and started licking her face, it's tiny tail waggling furiously, 'But if he even thinks about getting into my closet and going after my shoes...'

'Today is the only time he can be in here,' Rick's hand suddenly held his phone. A click later and he wore a satisfied smirk of glee as he waggled the image at Kate, 'But he is so damned cute isn't he?'

'If anyone outside of this bed see's that photo,' Kate glared, 'You die. Slowly.'

'That's three times you've threatened me in about three minutes,' Rick huffed, 'You really aren't a morning person are you?'

The puppy yapped loudly and continued it's licking assault on Kate's face.

'How long are we going to be hiding him?' Kate wiped at her face with one of the sheets over her as Rick tapped the puppy on the nose and told him off, 'isn't Alexis usually up by now?'

'Special birthday lie-in,' Rick grinned, Kate pulling her hair from her face when he suddenly threw the covers off and clambered out of bed, 'which is about to be ended by Cosmo waking her up in a similar way to how you... What?'

Kate's silent laughter bubbled with volume, 'Oh babe, you have no idea what a cliche you are standing there all topless and hot and holding a cute little puppy in your hands. It's like a month in a firefighter's calendar!'

'Maybe later you can play with my...' Rick smirked, his tease cut off by the puppy peeing down his leg, 'Oh Crap... Cosmo!'

Kate's laughter filled the bedroom as Rick ran into the en-suite, his shower echoing into life alongside his voice chastising the tiny creature.


	3. The missing apology

First things first, this chapter has **spoilers** for events that happened in 7x09. So consider yourselves all warned. Just felt a scene like this was glaringly missing from the episode after Castle's error. I think everyone would agree that it wasn't an intentional act by him, but I still feel that he should have noticed Kate's reaction and feelings during the episode, even if they'd just had him give Kate a coffee cup with a big 'SORRY!' scribbled on it.

Disclaimer - the people that Castle are the people that own Castle. I am not one of those people.

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><p>The loft was dark when Kate Castle entered, the intent by her husband clear as day when she felt his eyes on her and she turned to find him standing in the doorway to his office with her fluffy bath robe over his shoulder.<p>

'We have the loft to ourselves tonight,' Rick sighed when Kate slipped her arms around his body, her head tucking under his chin, 'And you deserve a good pampering tonight.'

'I do?' Kate let her eyes slide closed, a warmth filling her chest at the way Rick's fingers splayed over her back.

'You do,' Rick swayed gently, 'I was an ass the other day.'

'Huh?' Kate hummed. To her embarrassment she let out a grumbled groan when Rick stepped back, a soft smirk on his lips.

'It was your home Kate,' Rick's hand on her back guided Kate into the bedroom and towards their bathroom, 'That apartment was your home and I belittled it.'

'Rick...' Kate opened her mouth to answer, but found her words lacking as Rick guided her into the bathroom. The huge tub was nearly overflowing with bubbles, the scent of her favourite and highly expensive bath salts filling her nose. Around the room sat a couple of dozen candles and the strains of her favourite playlist floated across the room, 'You...'

'I'm trying to say sorry,' Rick's fingers started opening her blouse, 'That I was wrong to say what I said and that I know that apartment was more to you than it was to me. I should have realised that and I'm sorry Kate.'

'Rick...' Kate sighed, her blouse sliding from her shoulders, 'It's okay...'

'No it isn't,' Rick paused, his hand holding her blouse, 'I didn't think about what you'd been through in that apartment. You took down Bracken in there, you fought to find me from there and you battled to keep yourself together for us in there.'

'That small, creaking adorable apartment has been your home, your shelter through some intense and emotional situations,' Rick's face displayed his shame, 'I should have realised that...'

'Rick,' Kate's beaming smile lit up the room, her finger pressing against her husband's lips momentarily, 'Did Lanie talk to you?'

Rick shook his head, 'Not exactly. She gave me the evil eye earlier but she wouldn't tell me why, only that I should figure it out myself. I came home tonight and it hit me the minute I saw the boxes.'

Kate pressed herself against Rick, 'Apology accepted on one condition.'

'What's that?' Rick's large hands gripped his wife's hips.

'You join me in that big tub,' Kate pushed herself onto tip toes and slanted her lips over Rick's, her hands fumbling with his belt.


End file.
